October 1, 2006

Update note - Follow the updates I'm posting, and watch how the right turns this into a full-fledged "October Surprise" plot, entirely the Democrats' fault.

This RW blogger wants the Republican Congressional leadership to resign from their leadership positions. But... but... all they did was cover up for a pedophile! Hastert Knew While Foley Flew,

I cannot tell CQ readers how disgusted I am with Speaker Hastert.

... Hastert should have been a man from the beginning and admit that he knew about Foley. Now he has destroyed any credibility left in his Speakership, and he has only compounded the embarrassment for the GOP caucus. Foley's actions reflect on Foley alone, but thanks to Hastert and perhaps Boehner, the aftermath will reflect on all Republicans in the House.

Republicans have to act swiftly to remove the stench of Foleygate from the party. They need to demand the resignation of Hastert as Speaker, as well as Boehner as Majority Leader if he lied to protect Hastert. Allowing Foley off the hook was a mistake in judgment, but this is a betrayal of those who trusted Hastert to lead the House with dignity, honesty, and integrity.

Denny Hastert, despite being tainted by the stink of scandal, has been a faithful servant of his constituents and his nation since he was first elected to the House in 1986. But lying to the American people, even indirectly through a statement issued by a press office, is beyond the pale. It’s time for the Speaker to step down.

Keep telling me about how we have to keep voting for these friggin’ child molester protectors just because they aren’t as bad as the Dems.

That’s not some podunk member sticking up for a buddy. That’s your House frickin’ leadership sheltering the boy-loving SOB. He should have been gone within an hour of Boehner and Hastert finding out. Were I in Hastert’s shoes,I’d have been screaming and throwing stuff off Foley’s desk at him. Were I sitting there, they’d have had to call security on me, had Foley not offered his retirement on the spot. Instead, Hastert can’t remember discussing it. Can’t remember discussing the possible child molesting habits, of the Congressman who is vice chair of the task force to fight child molestation and child pr*n? WTF?!?!

If they can’t fire a guy who looks like he’s probably a child molester, what makes you think they’ll be able to take a stand on tough issues on our behalf? They can’t ditch a guy who will jeopardize their election chances six months out, they wait until 30 days before the election? What the hell is wrong with these people. If they can’t even protect their own interests, how do you think they are doing with ours?

No, we don’t need to put the Democrats in office. What we need, is some new Republicans.

But why let common sense or common decency for that matter spoil a good smear campaign? The muddy hoofprints left by Democrats over the last few years as they have dirtied the reputations of several Republicans who have later turned out to be innocent (Karl Rove in Plamegate for one) reveals a party so totally bereft of ideas that their only hope to take advantage of the monumentally stupid and disastrous Republican leadership is to pray for more Americans to die in Iraq and Afghanistan, hope that gas prices go higher, and wish for an economic downturn.

Although not confirmed, it’s being thrown around that ABC’s primary source for the computer chats and emails is the liberal watch dog group CREW.
Significant, because while there is a story about how the GOP leadership knew of Foley’s actions for at least a year, after which he was ordered to stop contact with the teen, there reports that CREW also knew of the allegations months ago. In fact according to reports, CREW had contacted the FBI, and were waiting to go public when ABC posted the story. So the obvious question is “Why wait”? I think it’s obvious they were waiting to have the greatest effect.
It is interesting that CREW now is calling for an independent counsel to look into - not Foley - but the GOP leadership. This less than fourty-eight hours after his resignation. Pretty darn quick I would say, since the facts are still coming out. It’s almost like they had it all ….like, planned.

I think that’s a bit of an overreaction. In fact, I think it’s somewhat hysterical.
However distasteful Foley’s actions are (and this observer finds them unequivocally repugnant) there are some important facts to keep in mind before we throw anyone under the bus.
First, given information available now, it doesn’t appear as though Foley has broken any laws.

But what about the Democrat's history? It doesn't take much to find the history of perverts and criminals in the Democrat party, but what is interesting is what happens to these pervs and criminals when exposed?

Was Foley a perv? Most definately so. But the speed with which the Democrats came out swinging at the Republican leadership, accusing them of knowing about the sexually explicit emails long ago, gave me pause. Not because I believed them, but because this has been their modus operendi for every “scandal” for the past 6 years. Every single Democratic hitjob has begun like this and almost every single “scandal” has been proven to be nothing more then netroots stomping their feet shrilling crying “but those big bad evil Republicans just have to be wrong!”

CREW stands for Citzens for Resposibility and Ethics in Washington. As we’ll see they are neither responsible nor ethical. There is something even sicker than Mark Foley’s online sexual advances against a minor. It is CREW’S decision to make the knowledge of this an October Surprise. Which Rick Moran hints at in his Update II.
The truly depraved in this disgusting affair are not Foley, or the local papers; it is CREW which withheld information that Foley had gone beyond relatively innocuous emails into full fledged sexual stalking mode.
… It is mind boggling to know that some people will put their desire to see “their side” win over the safety of children.

Down a ways in the post: “Is this some kind of Democratic "October surprise"? If Foley was hitting on 16-year-old boys a year ago, why didn't we find out about it until five weeks before Election Day?”

If the finger is being pointed at the House leadership for doing nothing, then anyone who sat on much more damning information until just before an election for political purposes is, if anything, even more guilty.

But before lefties get too high and mighty, let me remind them of that little double standard going on here. McGreevey is getting away with sexual harrassment. He got to go on “Oprah” and pretend he was the victim.

Not saying two wrongs make a right.

I am saying if lefties want a good look at a hypocrite, they might try looking in the mirror.

Questioning the Timing: Of course this disclosure is perfectly timed to impact the upcoming elections.
The left, though, won't note this true question-the-timing situation. Not many on the right are even bothering to note it.
Which makes sense. The Democrats hardly had any obligation to time the disclosure in order to help the GOP, now did they? Questioning The Timing II: ... If we're talking cover-up-- what precisely did the Democrats know, and when did they know it? I wrote above they had no obligation to time the revelation of this to do anything except damage the Republicans -- at least in political terms.

But what about in law-enforcement/protect the children terms?

If Democratic operatives, and therefore, presumably, the DNC itself, had the full details of this months or even a year ago, did they allow a pederast to roam free for a year purely for partisan advantage?

Did the Democrats know more than the GOP did, and if so, didn't they have an obligation to share this evidence with the police, a year ago, and not just ABCNews a month out from an election?

What we do know is that reputable media and the Republican leadership acted appropriately on the initial innocuous correspondence and could not proceed further in view of the parents’ demand that their son’s privacy be respected only to find months later just before the election that same correpondence showing up on an unlikely blog site and then almost simultaneously on ABC and on C.R.E.W.’s site. As for the demand that a special prosecutor be appointed, maybe Patrick Fitzgerald can be appointed. Then he can fail to ask ABC or C.R.E.W. how they got the correspondence, ignore their political motivations, conflate their partisanship with “whistleblowing”, not look for the sources of the later sexually explicit emails, and nab Hastert for forgetting when he went to the bathroom on the day he heard about the emails.

I hate having to defend Hastert, partly because he’s a jackass and partly because it’s bad form to defend anyone in any way associated with a child molestation scandal, no matter how much the facts are in their favor. But I think he’s getting a raw deal here, at least based on what we know thus far.
[. . .] Now that we’ve dispensed with that, go read this post at Moran’s and pay special attention to Update II. Who was ABC’s source for those e-mails? And for how long, exactly, was that source sitting on them while filthy Mark Foley was busy ogling the pages?
[. . .] Update: Maguire notes that dKos was awfully far ahead of the curve in picking this story up and says he smells a rat. Meanwhile, according to Fox, Nancy Pelosi has issued a statement calling on the GOP House leadership to be questioned about what they knew and when they knew it — under oath.

I hearby declare shananigans…..get your broomsticks fellas.
That’s not all of it, apparently some commentors to JustOneMinute believe they know who the owner of the blog is, one Jason Leopold
… Where in the world are the Democrats going to end up on this?

MORE COMING

Posted by Dave Johnson at October 1, 2006 8:41 AM

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I agree (although it should be the "House leadership" not the "Congressional leadership.") This RW blogger wants the Republican Congressional leadership to resign from their leadership positions. But… but… all the did...

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Well, at least this has got the Repugs into an uproar. Why blame CREW? I guess they've gotta throw mud somewhere other than at those who deserve it. At least those who do see that their leadership didn't act responsibly have the integrity to admit that there was a coverup and call for their resignation. Why in the world did Hastert refrain from any kind of action? It must have been obvious that this would eventually be a huge scandal.

It's deliciously ironic that Foley could now be strung up by his own law! What a hypocrite! How much cool-aid were these guys drinking that they didn't see what was going to come down the pike at them? To turn around and blame the Democrats for exposing this just before the elections -- especially since there really isn't any evidence that it's the Democrats who were sitting on the information -- is a fine example of total idiocy.

Posted by: MJ at October 1, 2006 10:47 AM

Hello all,

If they're going to go around attacking others for not living up to their professed values, it's a damn good idea to be truthful and actually walk the walk. Logs and motes in the eye, glass houses, kettle's and pots, and what goes around comes around, et al. Karma's a bitch when She finally decides enough is enough! This wouldn't have been so bad on Republicans if they hadn't been such arrogant hypocrites in order to corner the so-called values voters!

The current scandal involving Congressman Foley is merely the latest in an amazingly long list of blatant deception and duplicity by Republicans and the Christian Right in recent years. While bedeviling us all with their holier-than-thou pretenses, they consistently support and/or perform blatant greed and abominable evil. Never forget the extent of their arrogance over the last two decades and especially the last 6 years. It is beyond amazing that Christians continue to blindly support such obviously blatant scoundrels, even as they are repeatedly exposed going against the most basic of human values. The level of hypocrisy and duplicity boggles the mind. There is no longer any doubt, whatsoever, that Christianity is little more than a purposeful deception used by political and religious leaders to dupe, manipulate, and coerce entire populations into giving them wealth and power, which they always use for greed, injustice, and abominable evils.

The actions of Foley and those who covered up for him directly parallel the actions of scores of priests that have raped innocent children, preyed upon others for centuries, and had their actions hidden and abetted by the Vatican. Now, in eerie repetition of Vatican history, we have a power hungry Christian Emperor (GW) working closely with the Vatican and Judeo-Christian aristocrats to lead crusades in the so-called Holy Land. Furthermore, to leave little doubt about the reality of this assessment, the USA, as the new Holy Roman Empire, is about to legalize the torture it has perpetrated in recent years while steadily reversing many of the democratic and civil freedoms that people gained when the Vatican and royalty lost control of their European empire at the turn of the nineteenth century. Now we see them following the same old path of evil as they strive to cement the status of the USA as the latest proxy Vatican empire. Make no mistake about it, the new dark ages are looming on the horizon unless we do something proactive to prevent it.